Hungary’s capital will host the next Trump–Putin summit on Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán confirmed on Thursday. The talks aim to revive negotiations stalled since August and come just as Zelenskyy pushes Washington for long-range Tomahawk missiles to strike deep inside Russia.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Hungary is globally recognized for its commitment to peace, following his attendance at the Gaza ceasefire signing in Sharm el-Sheikh. He also announced an upcoming meeting with US President Donald Trump to discuss economic and political cooperation.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hit back at Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the Ukrainian leader vowed his country would join the EU ‘with Orbán or without him.’ Orbán accused Zelenskyy of ‘moral blackmail’, stressing that accession requires unanimous approval by member states and recalling Hungarians’ overwhelming rejection of Ukraine’s bid.
What tools of pressure does Trump have to deploy against Russia if diplomacy fails? Is the United States’ support for Israel infinite? Could Hungary switch from Russian energy to American? What is the future of Europe? We asked former United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie about Trump’s three unresolved geopolitical games.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland called the Russo–Ukrainian war ‘our war’ at the Warsaw Security Forum, prompting a sharp rebuke from his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán, who warned that neither Hungary nor the EU is at war with Russia and accused Tusk of endangering European lives.
EU leaders will meet in Copenhagen on Wednesday for an informal European Council meeting, testing how far Brussels is willing to go to sideline Viktor Orbán. Council President António Costa is lobbying to bypass Hungary’s veto on Ukraine’s accession talks and on the use of frozen Russian assets—an approach Budapest says violates treaties and destroys institutional balance.
Hungary has retaliated against Ukraine’s decision to block foreign outlets by banning access to several Ukrainian sites, including Ukrainska Pravda. Minister Gergely Gulyás called Kyiv’s move censorship, arguing that silencing critical media undermines its EU bid.
Hungarian Gripens scrambled from Šiauliai, Lithuania, on 25 September to intercept Russian jets near Latvia. NATO praised Hungary’s role in protecting Baltic airspace, even as Budapest faces criticism within the Alliance for its stance on Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke on Wednesday about Russian energy, tariffs, and the war in Ukraine. The call came as Trump urged Europe to end Russian imports, while Budapest insists geography leaves it no choice. FM Péter Szijjártó stressed that Hungary’s energy security is a matter of pipelines, not ideology.
Ukraine’s security service has blocked 15 outlets from Hungary, Romania, Moldova, and Greece—including Hungary’s Origo and Demokrata—accusing them of spreading Russian propaganda. Demokrata editor-in-chief András Bencsik slammed the move as proof Ukraine has become a ‘rotten, corrupt dictatorship’ that tramples free speech.